S1: E31 – The Search for Bethany Correira, Part 1

Summary

American Homicide: S1E31 – The Search for Bethany Correira, Part 1

Release Date: May 22, 2025
Host: Sloan Glass
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts and Glass Podcasts

---

Introduction

In the gripping episode titled "The Search for Bethany Correira, Part 1," host Sloan Glass delves into the mysterious disappearance of Bethany Carrera, a 21-year-old university student who vanished in Anchorage, Alaska, shortly after moving into her new apartment. This detailed exploration uncovers the complexities of the investigation, the harsh realities of Anchorage's violent crime rates, and the emergence of key suspects linked to Bethany's disappearance.

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Background on Bethany Carrera

Bethany Carrera hailed from the small, close-knit community of Talkeetna, Alaska—a town with a population of just over 800 people in 2003. Known for her adventurous spirit, Bethany enjoyed camping, snowboarding, and sailing. After graduating high school, she undertook a year-long sailing trip through the South Pacific and later served as a Christian missionary in Thailand and Nepal. At 21, seeking to further her education, she moved to Anchorage to attend the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) as a pre-med student.

Quote:
"Bethany was a go-getter who loved camping, snowboarding, and sailing. Adventure was in her blood."
— Sloan Glass [06:33]

---

The Disappearance

In April 2003, Bethany secured a three-month lease in Bootleggers Cove, a scenic yet transient area of Anchorage known for its proximity to trails and outdoor activities. On the final week of April, shortly after moving in with the help of her boyfriend, Joe, Bethany vanished without a trace. Notably, her apartment showed no signs of forced entry, and her personal belongings, including her cell phone, were left untouched.

Key Event:
Bethany failed to pick up her brother from the airport as planned, raising immediate concerns.

Quote:
"She wasn't at home. She found that Bethany had left her cell phone in her wallet in the apartment. And that immediately made her suspicious."
— Ron McGee [08:25]

---

Investigation Begins

Ron McGee, the Public Affairs Manager for the Anchorage Police Department, explains the urgency in treating Bethany's case differently from typical missing person reports. Anchorage, with its high violent crime rates—more than double the national average—posed additional challenges to locating Bethany.

Quote:
"Our rate of violence is much higher than the rest of the nation. We've led the nation, for example, in rapes since I can remember."
— Ron McGee [05:55]

The Anchorage PD mobilized nearly 100 volunteers from Talkeetna and Anchorage to search for Bethany, while her family plastered flyers across the city in a desperate bid to find her.

---

Suspects and Mike Lawson

The investigation took a pivotal turn when detectives focused on the duplex adjacent to Bethany's apartment, which had recently been intentionally set on fire. Initially deemed an electrical accident, further investigation revealed signs of arson, leading police to scrutinize those connected to the building.

Mike Lawson, Bethany's landlord and a contractor working on the building, emerged as a significant suspect. His background raised red flags:

• Criminal History:
  In 1987, Mike was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault in Illinois and served three years of a seven-year sentence before relocating to Alaska.

• Behavioral Concerns:
  Mike was amidst his fourth divorce around the time of Bethany's disappearance, displaying evident anger issues towards women.

Quote:
"He's got a lot of problems with women, very violent."
— Ron McGee [31:03]

Further suspicion arose when investigators discovered that five out of seven members of Mike's construction crew were registered sex offenders. Additionally, Mike's alibi for the day Bethany went missing unraveled when phone records contradicted his claims of being at home watching NASCAR.

---

Breakthrough with Bob Lawson

Face-to-face questioning with Mike's brother, Bob Lawson, led to a crucial breakthrough. Initially dismissive, Bob ultimately accepted a plea deal to cooperate, revealing that Mike had shot and killed Bethany and disclosed the location of her body in a remote gravel pit 400 miles from Anchorage.

Key Event:
Bob led the police to the gravel pit but unsuccessful due to severe winter conditions.

Quote:
"I believe that somebody knows something."
— Mike Lawson [25:16]

Despite following Bob's lead, the search for Bethany's body was halted when four feet of snow impeded progress, and the team had to wait for the snow to melt.

---

New Twists and Revelations

Unexpectedly, Mike Lawson recanted his confession, accusing his brother Bob of being the actual perpetrator. Offering to wear a wire, Mike's sudden cooperation introduced new complexities into the case, leaving investigators to navigate conflicting testimonies from the Lawson brothers.

Quote:
"If there's anything that could help us find a clue, a lead, a person who might give us more insight, that's always what we try to do."
— Walt Monaghan [37:21]

This dramatic shift set the stage for further investigation, questioning the veracity of both brothers' statements and the credibility of Mike's claims against Bob.

---

Conclusion and Looking Ahead

Part one of "The Search for Bethany Correira" concludes with unresolved tensions between the Lawson brothers and the pressing need for concrete evidence to solve Bethany's disappearance. As the investigation unfolds, listeners are left anticipating part two to uncover the truth behind the conflicting accounts and to determine Bethany Carrera's fate.

Teaser for Part Two:
"Join us next week for part two of the search for Bethany Carrera. I'm Sloane Glass. That's next time on American Homicide."

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "Our rate of violence is much higher than the rest of the nation. We've led the nation, for example, in rapes since I can remember."
  — Ron McGee [05:55]

• "She wasn't at home. She found that Bethany had left her cell phone in her wallet in the apartment. And that immediately made her suspicious."
  — Ron McGee [08:25]

• "Bethany was a go-getter who loved camping, snowboarding, and sailing. Adventure was in her blood."
  — Sloan Glass [06:33]

• "He's got a lot of problems with women, very violent."
  — Ron McGee [31:03]

• "If there's anything that could help us find a clue, a lead, a person who might give us more insight, that's always what we try to do."
  — Walt Monaghan [37:21]

---

Final Thoughts

"The Search for Bethany Correira, Part 1" is a compelling exploration of a young woman's disappearance against the backdrop of Anchorage's challenging environment. Through meticulous investigation and the unveiling of dark secrets, Sloan Glass presents a narrative that is both heart-wrenching and thought-provoking, setting the stage for the continuation of this true crime saga.

---

Stay Tuned:
Don’t miss Part 2 of this riveting episode, where the layers of deception continue to unravel, bringing Bethany Carrera’s story closer to resolution.

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Note: This episode contains graphic content. Listener discretion is advised.

Transcript

[Walt Monaghan]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone, most of all his wife, Caroline.

[Melissa Jeltson]

He texted, I've ruined our lives.

[Ron McGee]

You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

How far would he go to cover up what he'd done?

[Unknown]

The fact that you lied is absolutely horrific. And quite frankly, I question how many other women are out there that may bring forward allegations in the future.

[Andrea Gunning]

Listen to betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unknown]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Unknown]

I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Unknown]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Melissa Jeltson]

Hi, listeners. I'm Melissa Jeltson, host of what Happened to Talina Czar? It's the story of a woman who disappears in the early days of COVID lockdowns and the group of online sleuths who who try to find her.

[Sloan Glass]

I didn't want to be talked out of this plan. After I post this, I am turning off my phone for exactly this reason.

[Melissa Jeltson]

I kept just kind of asking everybody.

[Sloan Glass]

Anyone else think this is strange?

[Melissa Jeltson]

You'll notice that about me.

[Ron McGee]

I don't lurk. I'm out there.

[Melissa Jeltson]

I'm an action kind of girl. You can now get access to episodes of what happened to Talina Zar? 100% ad free with an iHeart True Crime plus subscription. I'm a subscriber, and you should be too, so don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search iHeart True Crime plus and subscribe today.

[Holly Fry]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarchi, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers, known as the wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid-1600s, her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ron McGee]

In Alaska, the big concern is bears. I always say the biggest danger in Alaska is the human animals.

[Sloan Glass]

Less than a week after moving to Anchorage, Bethany Carrera vanished.

[Ron McGee]

She wasn't aware of what a violent.

[Sloan Glass]

Place Anchorage can be, and locating Bethany's killer would be just as difficult as finding her body.

[Ron McGee]

We knew where the body was, and this is Alaska, and there was three feet of snow on the ground, and we couldn't recover the body until some of the snow melted.

[Sloan Glass]

Bringing justice would cost another life.

[Ron McGee]

It was a tragedy for everybody involved.

[Sloan Glass]

Today we're in Anchorage, Alaska, for part one of the search for Bethany Carrera. I'm Sloan Glass, and this is American Homicide. Just a note that this episode contains some graphic content. Please take care while listening. With more than 600 square miles of arctic coast, untamed wilderness, and majestic mountains, Alaska is our nation's largest state. But even with all that land, just over half a million people live there.

[Ron McGee]

Half the population of the state is in Anchorage.

[Sloan Glass]

Ron McGee was the public affairs manager for the Anchorage police Department.

[Ron McGee]

The last I checked, we were like the 64th largest city in the nation.

[Sloan Glass]

Historically, people have flocked to Alaska in search of riches.

[Ron McGee]

This state has always been about oil.

[Sloan Glass]

Along with liquid gold. Alaska was home to the gold rush of the late 1800s that fostered the first generation of people who came to the state in search of riches. But then there's the other group of people.

[Ron McGee]

In the 32 years that I have been here, I encountered a lot of people who came to Alaska to try and get away from something, whether it's.

[Sloan Glass]

The law, money issues, or something completely innocent. Alaska is a place where a lot of people go to escape their past.

[Ron McGee]

We have a lot of the problems that people in the lower 48 have, but Anchorage has always been what I would consider a very violent place. Our rate of violence is much higher than the rest of the nation. We've led the nation, for example, in rapes since I can remember.

[Sloan Glass]

Alaska's violent crime rate is more than double the national average. And most of those crimes happen in Anchorage, which is scary for the college students who move there.

[Ron McGee]

The University of Alaska's campus in Anchorage is the largest in the university system. They offer the most majors, and we try to talk to the students and try and make them aware that, especially the students who come from rural Alaska, that this can be a very violent place.

[Sloan Glass]

One of those students who came to the University of Alaskan Anchorage, or uaa, was Bethany Carrera.

[Ron McGee]

Bethany comes from this little small community in Talkeetna.

[Sloan Glass]

Talkeetna sits about 100 miles north of Anchorage, a town so small that A cat won the race for mayor as a write in candidate. Can you imagine losing to a cat? So Bethany came from a small town, very small. In 2003, the population was 810 people. Bethany was a go getter who loved camping, snowboarding and sailing. Adventure was in her blood. In fact, after graduating high school, Bethany embarked on a year long sailing trip through the South Pacific. Then she served as a Christian missionary to Thailand and Nepal. But then the 21 year old decided it was time to go back to school.

[Ron McGee]

Bethany came from Talkeetna in 2003 to attend UAA. She was pre med. She's a good student, she was a good daughter. Her parents had wonderful things to say about her.

[Sloan Glass]

Bethany found a small apartment a couple miles from campus in Bootleggers Cove. It's a scenic area of Anchorage along the coastline that got its name in the days of prohibition. That's when barrels of moonshine used to roll off nearby boats. In the early 2000s, the area was popular with college students.

[Ron McGee]

Bootleggers Cove at that time was considered sort of a trendy place. A place that was, you know, a little more expensive than the rest of the town because it was close to the water.

[Sloan Glass]

Bethany's one bedroom apartment conveniently sat near several trails for hiking, biking and running, all of which Bethany loved to do.

[Ron McGee]

If you like the outdoors, this is the place to be.

[Sloan Glass]

At the time, many of the older homes in Bootlegger's Cove were being torn down to make way for bigger and fancier places. In fact, Bethany's modest four unit apartment building was scheduled to be torn down later that year.

[Ron McGee]

Yeah, there's always a lot of development going on around here. You know, it's a place that is recreating itself constantly.

[Sloan Glass]

But it worked out for Bethany. She was able to sign a three month lease that coincided with her summer school schedule. And that final week of April 2003, Bethany's boyfriend Joe helped her move into her new apartment. But by that Saturday, Bethany went awol.

[Ron McGee]

Bethany was supposed to pick up her brother from the airport and she didn't do it.

[Sloan Glass]

That was out of character for the reliable and responsible Bethany. As you can imagine, her family was concerned.

[Ron McGee]

And her mother immediately drove about 100 miles from Talkeetna to come to Anchorage and check on her. And when she checked on her, she couldn't find her. She wasn't at home. She found that Bethany had left her cell phone in her wallet in the apartment. And that immediately made her suspicious. You know, no young lady goes anywhere without her cell phone in her Wallet.

[Sloan Glass]

Her mom also found Bethany's car, passport, and even her favorite backpack at her apartment. But what really added to her mother's anxiety was what she saw outside.

[Ron McGee]

The apartment next door burned. There had been a fire in the apartment, and that immediately made her suspicious.

[Sloan Glass]

The upstairs unit of the vacant duplex next door to Bethany's apartment was under construction and had caught fire earlier that morning. The unsettling smell of smoke still lingered in the air.

[Ron McGee]

So immediately she called her husband, and her husband drove to Anchorage, and then her mother called the police.

[Sloan Glass]

Bethany's mom told detectives that she last talked with her daughter late Friday night. It was now Sunday afternoon. She explained that her daughter's boyfriend Joe, had been in town to help Bethany move. But there were no signs of Joe or any of his belongings at Bethany's apartment. Her mom admitted that she didn't know much about Joe. She then asked the detectives if they knew anything about the apartment next door to Bethany's, the one that had recently caught fire.

[Ron McGee]

Originally, they thought that the fire was from electrical natural causes. But this additional investigator determined that the fire had been set intentionally. That made us even more suspicious when we found that out.

[Sloan Glass]

All right, so we have a missing 21 year old woman who lived next door to a building that was intentionally set on fire. Immediately, the Anchorage PD got involved.

[Walt Monaghan]

My name is Walt Monaghan. I was the chief of police of the Anchorage Police Department at that time. When we did get a report that she was missing. Normally we don't take those kind of reports. Most police departments don't for a couple of days because 9 out of 10 they show back up. But because of the urgency in this one, we did look into it.

[Sloan Glass]

The urgency stemmed from the fact that Bethany hadn't even lived in Anchorage for a week.

[Walt Monaghan]

Coming from a smaller town where you pretty much know everybody and going into a larger place, you're not going to be as cognizant or aware of some of the dangers that are around you. If there's a person that you should stay away from in Talkeetna, everybody knows about it in Anchorage. Not so. So I think a lot of folks, when they first come to Anchorage or Fairbanks or some of the larger places, they're a little more trusting than most people who live in the cities.

[Sloan Glass]

As the police began their investigation, nearly 100 volunteers from Bethany's hometown arrived in Anchorage to search for her.

[Walt Monaghan]

The family started putting out flyers they basically papered downtown. You could hardly go by a restaurant or a power pole that didn't have Bethany's picture on It. The first time I saw one of those, I just thought she had such an innocent smile, just a happy, genuine, and a likable person. And I had hopes that, you know, she'd be okay like everybody else did.

[Sloan Glass]

It had been less than a week since Bethany moved into her apartment, which had no sign of forced entry. If anything, it looked like Bethany had simply left to go run an errand but never returned. And she was 21 and new in town. Did she go to the bars and not come home? Well, her mother said Bethany wasn't much of a drinker or partier.

[Walt Monaghan]

We found her purse and her keys and her phone. Everything was there. That kind of added to the evidence aspect that she didn't just scramble and take off someplace.

[Sloan Glass]

A look through Bethany's cell phone gave detectives their first clue.

[Walt Monaghan]

I believe her boyfriend had just been talking to her.

[Sloan Glass]

Bethany's phone showed that one of the last phone calls came from her boyfriend, Joe. So the police got in touch with Joe, who confirmed that, yes, he did talk with Bethany that Saturday morning. And that began a long conversation between Joe and the detectives because they learned Joe was married.

[Walt Monaghan]

Everyone's a suspect initially. Everyone.

[Ron McGee]

Foreign.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone, most of all, his wife, Caroline.

[Melissa Jeltson]

He texted, I've ruined our lives.

[Ron McGee]

You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Caroline's husband was living another life behind the scenes. He betrayed his oath to his family and to his community.

[Unknown]

She said you left bruises, pulled her hair, that type of thing.

[Mike Lawson]

No.

[Andrea Gunning]

How far would Joel go to cover up what he'd done?

[Unknown]

You're unable to keep track of all your lies, and quite frankly, I question how many other women may bring forward allegations in the future.

[Andrea Gunning]

This season of Betrayal investigates one officer's decades of deception, Lies that left those closest to him questioning everything they thought they knew. Listen to betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unknown]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one.

[Ron McGee]

I just knew him as a kid.

[Unknown]

Long, silent voices from his past came.

[Gilbert King]

Forward, and he was just staring at me.

[Unknown]

And they had secrets of their own to share.

[Gilbert King]

Gilbert King. I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

[Unknown]

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Unknown]

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

If the cops and everything would have done the job properly. My dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

[Unknown]

I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Unknown]

Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy.

[Gilbert King]

Jeremy, I want to tell you something.

[Unknown]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app and Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Sloan Glass]

Bethany Carrera was a 21 year old student who was starting life on her own. On Monday, she moved into her new apartment in Anchorage. By Saturday, she was nowhere to be found. Ron McGee worked for the Anchorage PD.

[Ron McGee]

This young lady was completely heartless. She was the kind of young lady that everyone would like to have as a daughter. She comes from this little small community in Talkeetna. For a lot of people who were raised in rural Alaska, Anchorage can be a little bit of a rude awakening. I always say the biggest danger in Alaska is the human animals.

[Sloan Glass]

And of course, that was the fear that someone had done something to Bethany. The normally reliable Bethany was supposed to pick up her brother from the airport that weekend, but she never showed up. It left her family wondering, where's Bethany?

[Ron McGee]

She didn't want to disappear. I think everybody was on edge. The Talkeetna community really responded to it and the people here in Anchorage got involved in it too, particularly the students out at the university. We had a lot of students at the university that were distributing flyers and posting them all over the campus.

[Sloan Glass]

Flyers with Bethany's smiling face next to the ominous word missing went up all over town. It was a scary time for Bethany's parents who struggled to stay positive.

[Ron McGee]

I think a lot of times families blame themselves and in this situation, the family was doing it. They raised a wonderful daughter. They were sending her off to college like so many other families do. They were trying to do what was right for their daughter and she ends up missing.

[Sloan Glass]

It was early May and Bethany was about to begin summer school. That's also when tourism season was about to begin, which meant the snow was melting and and the ground was thawing. That turned Anchorage into a muddy mess for Bethany's search party.

[Ron McGee]

And they were going all around the town putting up posters and looking in places trying to find her. And it's very hard work.

[Sloan Glass]

Detectives began tracing Bethany's last known whereabouts and got some help from her cell phone, which was found inside her apartment. It was 2003, but even then, no 21 year old would leave her house without their cell phone, which concerned everyone involved. At the time, Bethany owned a flip phone. A scroll through her phone log showed several calls from that Saturday morning.

[Ron McGee]

I believe she talked to her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was a pilot and they had a conversation.

[Sloan Glass]

Just before 9:00am that Saturday morning, Bethany had a short phone call with her.

[Ron McGee]

Boyfriend and that made us suspicious right from the beginning.

[Sloan Glass]

Joe lived in Nome, Alaska, which is famous for being the endpoint of the Iditarod dog race. And the only way to get between Anchorage and Nome was by plane. Good thing Joe was a pilot. At the time, Bethany was 21 years old. Joe was well into his 30s. The two used to work together and had been dating for about six months. One important thing to note, Joe was married.

[Ron McGee]

That made us even more suspicious when we found that out.

[Sloan Glass]

Bethany's parents told investigators they didn't know much about Joe. So detectives questioned Joe, who explained that his marriage was long over by the time he met Bethany. He said the reason his divorce had dragged out for so long was because he and his soon to be ex were trying to do what was best for their child. Joe had been with Bethany before she disappeared. He was helping her move into her new apartment. He said the two had a nice visit. He even gave her a puka shell necklace from Hawaii as a gift. But Joe said he flew back to Nome on Friday morning because he had to work. Then things got uncomfortable. The detectives asked about Joe's soon to be ex wife. Did she know about Bethany? Joe said she did and the two didn't exactly have a happy meeting.

[Ron McGee]

That immediately drew some concern from the mother and immediately from the detectives that responded to it.

[Sloan Glass]

Just a few weeks earlier, Joe's wife found Bethany at his apartment in Nome and was furious. She even threw a glass at her. And later called Bethany's parents and told them that their daughter was a homewrecker.

[Ron McGee]

I'm a parent too. I have three kids and about the same age as she was. And so I just felt for the parents.

[Sloan Glass]

Detectives checked Joe's alibi and confirmed he was flying that entire weekend. As for the pilot's soon to be ex wife, there are no roads between Nome and Anchorage. If she were to come to Anchorage, she'd have to fly in. And there was no record of that happening. They cleared both the pilot and his wife and again left everyone asking, where is Bethany?

[Ron McGee]

There are a lot of people that disappear for a lot of different reasons. And so they wanted to know what happened to this young lady.

[Sloan Glass]

Through their conversation with Joe, detectives got a clearer picture of what was happening in Bethany's life. Joe said Bethany had taken a new job cleaning and showing apartments for her landlord, a man named Mike Lawson. And that Saturday, Bethany planned to meet with Mike so he could train her.

[Ron McGee]

The detective, he questioned Mike immediately.

[Sloan Glass]

Mike Lawson said yes, he and Bethany spoke early that Saturday morning, but it was to resolve an issue with Bethany's keys. But Mike said he never met up with Bethany that Saturday. In fact, he said he's the one who shows the apartments to prospective tenants, so he wasn't sure what Bethany was talking about.

[Ron McGee]

Mike Lawson said that he was at home with his brother all day watching nascar.

[Sloan Glass]

After hitting several dead ends, investigators shifted their focus to the duplex next door to Bethany's apartment.

[Ron McGee]

There was a fire in the apartment, and in this case, there was something to that fire.

[Sloan Glass]

Early that Sunday morning, a newspaper delivery person noticed the fire and called 911. Originally ruled an accident. Investigators later discovered it was no accident at all.

[Ron McGee]

Well, the apartment was set on fire.

[Walt Monaghan]

When we went to go look at the fire afterwards, we. We found some evidence.

[Sloan Glass]

Walt Monaghan was the chief of police for the Anchorage pd And the fire.

[Walt Monaghan]

Basically was meant to destroy whatever evidence might be inside.

[Sloan Glass]

Inside the apartment, the detectives noticed a suspicious patch of drywall, Almost like the job was rushed to get done just before the fire.

[Walt Monaghan]

The material that they used to, you know, that caulking kind of drywall stuff, wasn't completely dry. It actually kind of depressed because of the heat, the moisture there. It actually shrank back and made us look at it. And as we examined that repair, we found some hair inside of.

[Sloan Glass]

Was almost incredible that investigators located those hairs and fibers. Fibers within the poorly patched drywall. They were sent off to the lab for testing. And while they waited for answers, they were left to wonder whose hair was in the wall and how did it get there? Because the apartment it was found in was vacant. Franco Besnais was a contractor who worked on that building.

[Mike Lawson]

Mike Lawson and I worked for a construction company. And the guy calls me up and he says, hey, Franco, the building caught on fire. The duplex, the one that I was in to work, it's a two story. Burnt through the first floor. The flames went up, and even the ceiling was burnt. But it didn't actually break the shell of the whole building. And it was ruled as electrical fire, which really upsets me because I'm the one that does the work, and I don't want to be blamed for, you know, touching two wires together. But after examining the fire, I knew that it wasn't me. ATF came in and ruled it as arson. And that changed everything that drew attention to the whole disappearance next door.

[Sloan Glass]

That's when the police started looking at everyone who had been working on the apartment.

[Mike Lawson]

The lead investigator starts telling us about Bethany Carrera is missing. And they knew the connection that we had already, that our company is the same company that rented a tour. So they were questioning all of us. Little did I realize that they ran a background check. Literally everybody right there on the spot.

[Sloan Glass]

And wait until you hear what they found.

[Mike Lawson]

Out of the seven guys that I worked with, five of them come back as registered sex offenders, which blew me away.

[Sloan Glass]

Okay, so there are five registered sex offenders working on an apartment building where a 21 year old girl went missing and the neighboring building was set on fire.

[Mike Lawson]

There's one gal that just rented the apartment there who's alone. So that really drew a lot of attention to our company.

[Sloan Glass]

For investigators, the hope was that one of these five registered sex offenders might lead them to Bethany. And with any luck, they'd find Bethany alive.

[Mike Lawson]

I believe that somebody knows something.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone, most of all his wife, Caroline.

[Melissa Jeltson]

He texted, I've ruined our lives.

[Ron McGee]

You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Caroline's husband was living another life behind the scenes. He betrayed his oath to his family and to his community.

[Unknown]

She said you left bruises, pulled her hair, that type of thing.

[Mike Lawson]

No.

[Andrea Gunning]

How far would Joel go to cover up what he'd done?

[Unknown]

You're unable to keep track of all your lies, and quite frankly, I question how many other women may bring forward allegations in the future.

[Andrea Gunning]

This season of Betrayal investigates one officer's decades of deception. Lies that left those closest to him questioning everything they thought they knew. Listen to betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unknown]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one.

[Ron McGee]

I just knew him as a kid.

[Unknown]

Long, silent voices from his past came.

[Gilbert King]

Forward, and he was just staring at me.

[Unknown]

And they had secrets of their own to share.

[Gilbert King]

Gilbert King. I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

[Unknown]

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Unknown]

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

If the cops and everything would have done their job properly. My dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

[Unknown]

I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Unknown]

Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy.

[Gilbert King]

Jeremy, I want to tell you something.

[Unknown]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Sloan Glass]

As the Anchorage PD pieced together a timeline of Bethany Carrera's disappearance, they were focused not only on her apartment, but the building next door. Right around the same time Bethany disappeared that Saturday, her next door apartment caught on fire.

[Mike Lawson]

The timing of the fire was back to back.

[Sloan Glass]

Franco Besnais was a contractor who worked with Bethany's landlord.

[Mike Lawson]

Saturday night, the fire broke out. Same building that I did all the work at. So initially it was ruled electrical fire. Then after more investigation, it was ruled as arson. That changed everything.

[Sloan Glass]

Detectives got even more suspicious when they did a background check on the construction crew.

[Mike Lawson]

Five out of the seven were roasted sex offenders. I'm sitting there going, what am I working with?

[Sloan Glass]

The police looked into all of their alibis, including Bethany's landlord, Mike Lawson. At the time, Mike Lawson was 45 years old. He was tall and husky, but jet black hair, he slicked back. And yes, Mike did have some well documented problems with women.

[Mike Lawson]

The lead investigator actually asked him, right in front of me, is it okay if I do a visual search on your vehicle? Mike said, yes. So they walked over to Mike's vehicle. Mike opened every door, including the hatchback to his SUV Mercedes. They walked around, did a visual look, and then they drove off. I go back to work. An hour and a half goes by and I look back over there. Mike never left. All he's doing is walking in circles around his car, looking sort of like what the investigators did.

[Sloan Glass]

Can you imagine seeing one of your co workers doing that? So, yeah, Franco found it a little suspicious. And then things got even more strange.

[Mike Lawson]

He walked up to me and said, franco, can you cover for me? And I'm like, yeah, I'll cover for you. He said that he needs to go get an attorney. I looked at Mike and I said, mike, we don't all need attorneys. I know for a fact that I didn't do anything, and I don't think any of these guys did. But why Worry about it, Mike. And he said, well, they're looking at me.

[Sloan Glass]

The next day, Mike showed up to work with his car completely cleaned and detailed.

[Mike Lawson]

This car is the cleanest I've ever seen it. But you got to understand about Mike. This car. I've known him for several months. Not one time I could ever get in the car. It was so dirty. Papers and boxes. There was never no room except for just him.

[Sloan Glass]

And look, this could be one giant coincidence that Mike had his car cleaned a day after the police searched it. But it's what Franco learned about Mike that concerned him.

[Mike Lawson]

Mike Lawson is a registered sex offender. He was a registered sex offender that did not re register himself here in Anchorage. And so I started having this gut feeling about Michael and called Crime Stoppers. They connected me with the lead investigator.

[Ron McGee]

As soon as the investigation began, we started talking to people, and they said that Mike Lawson was a very angry man.

[Sloan Glass]

Ron McGee worked for the Anchorage PD.

[Ron McGee]

He's got a lot of problems with women, very violent.

[Sloan Glass]

In 1987, Mike was living in Illinois. That's when he was arrested for tying up, beating, and repeatedly sexually assaulting his then girlfriend. A year later, a jury convicted Mike Lawson of aggravated criminal sexual assault. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. After serving only three years in prison, Mike Lawson was released. That's when he relocated to Alaska. He and his brother Bob then started a roofing company. Right around the time Bethany Carrera vanished, Mike was getting divorced for the fourth time.

[Ron McGee]

Clearly, he's got some anger issues. His wife had just left him. He indicated that he wanted to do violence to women, and that made us suspicious right from the beginning. That made him a suspect right away.

[Sloan Glass]

If you remember, Mike had an alibi for the day Bethany went missing.

[Ron McGee]

Mike and his brother had said that they were home all day watching tv, watching race car driving. We were able to get their phone records and determine from their phone records that they were lying to us.

[Sloan Glass]

So let's talk about those phone records. On the Saturday morning Bethany went missing, Mike called his brother Bob seven times. And all seven calls happened within three minutes. Why was Mike so desperately trying to get a hold of Bob? Well, a closer look at these phone calls might tell us Mike's cell phone had pinged the cell tower near Bethany's apartment. So Mike may have said he and Bob were at home all day Saturday, but their phone records said otherwise.

[Ron McGee]

They were not telling the truth, that he had not been at home. So, you know, obviously, something was amiss there. And, of course, that raises more suspicions when you Find out that people were lying to you.

[Sloan Glass]

That Saturday morning, Mike's brother Bob finally took his brother's call just before 11am Afterwards, records showed Mike's cell phone returning to his home before traveling some 45 miles north, which is close to Talkeetna. Mike's phone then went silent for hours.

[Ron McGee]

First of all, we didn't have enough evidence to charge him, but we had a suspect. So we had to find other ways to prove that Lawson had been involved in this.

[Sloan Glass]

Mike Lawson had lied to investigators, and that's when the police leaned on Mike's brother Bob. Here's audio of Bob being questioned by detectives. Do you believe that your brother's involved in the arson or Bethany's disappearance?

[Unknown]

I really don't.

[Gilbert King]

I just got deep down true blue from my heart. I really don't think Mike's involved. If my brother came home and told me he did something like that, I'd tell you. I'm not going to jail for anybody. I'll tell you that flat out.

[Sloan Glass]

So investigators went to plan B and played hardball. They showed Bob a loan application he and his brother Mike Lawson filled out for their roofing company.

[Ron McGee]

Lawson had applied for a loan and had falsified some information on documents.

[Sloan Glass]

During this loan process, the application had this question. Are any of the applicants a convicted felon? Mike was a convicted felon, but he lied. He had checked off the box for no. And by doing that, Mike and Bob had committed fraud, which is a federal offense. Police charged both brothers, but offered Bob a deal. If he would cooperate in their investigation into Bethany Carrera, he'd avoid punishment for the fraud case.

[Ron McGee]

We kept emphasizing to him that this is a young lady and her family wants to know where she's at.

[Sloan Glass]

Bob could either join Mike in jail or take the deal. It took some serious thought, but Bob finally came around. He accepted the plea deal and agreed to flip on his brother.

[Gilbert King]

If that's what I gotta do, somebody's.

[Sloan Glass]

Gotta tell the story. If that has to be me, I will.

[Gilbert King]

Someday when I'm eulogized. All I want somebody to say is.

[Ron McGee]

I stood up and did the right thing. I always tried to do right. I think eventually it got to his conscience and he decided to help us. I'm sure it was a very difficult decision that he had to make, but he eventually did the right thing.

[Sloan Glass]

Some nine months after Bethany Carrera went missing, Bob told the detectives his brother Mike shot and killed Bethany. And he said he knew where to find her body.

[Walt Monaghan]

I think that basically they just wanted it to be far away from town.

[Sloan Glass]

Walt Monaghan was the Anchorage chief of police.

[Walt Monaghan]

It's about 400 miles from Anchorage to Fairbanks. At mile 129, there's a big gravel pit.

[Sloan Glass]

That's where Bob told the caravan of police and search crews to pull off the road.

[Walt Monaghan]

The crew went out there, where we believe that she was disposed at. It's a fairly large gravel pit and you're surrounded by mountains. By that time, it was wintertime. I think at one point it was like four feet of snow.

[Sloan Glass]

Bob Lawson led investigators through the deep snow to where he claimed he and his brother Mike dumped Bethany's body nine months earlier. After four hours of searching the gravel pit, which was the length of two football fields, they called off their search.

[Walt Monaghan]

We knew that she was there, but we had to wait until the snow melted.

[Sloan Glass]

With the search on hold, something unexpected happened. Mike Lawson told investigators he was ready to talk. And get this. Mike told detectives that it was his brother Bob who was responsible for Bethany's death, not the other way around. And Mike volunteered to work. Wear a wire to prove it.

[Walt Monaghan]

If there's anything that could help us find a clue, a lead, a person who might give us more insight, that's always what we try to do.

[Sloan Glass]

So now you had two brothers blaming one another for the death of Bethany Carrera. Would you be willing to talk to your brother?

[Unknown]

And if so, would you be willing.

[Ron McGee]

To let us tape record that conversation?

[Mike Lawson]

Sure.

[Sloan Glass]

Join us next week for part two of the search for Bethany Carrera. I'm Sloane Glass. That's next time on American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide team by emailing [e-mail] that's AmericanHomicidePodmail.com American Homicide is hosted and written by me, Sloan Glass and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Ganz. The series is also written and produced by Todd Ganz with additional writing by Ben Federman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate producer is Kristen Melchuri. Our I Heart team is Ally Perry and Jessica Krynczak. Audio editing, mixing and mastering by Nico Aruka. American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Noiser Music Library, provided by My Music. Follow American Homicide on Apple Podcasts and please rate and review American Homicide. Your five star review goes a long way towards helping others find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'M Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to fool everyone, most of all his wife, Caroline.

[Melissa Jeltson]

He texted, I've ruined our lives.

[Ron McGee]

You're going to want to divorce me.

[Andrea Gunning]

How far would he go to cover up what he'd done?

[Unknown]

The fact that you lied is absolutely horrific, and quite frankly, I question how many other women are out there that may bring forward allegations in the future.

[Andrea Gunning]

Listen to betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unknown]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season one.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad, it's oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Unknown]

I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Unknown]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Melissa Jeltson]

Hi listeners, I'm Melissa Jeltson, host of what Happened to Talina Czar? It's the story of a woman who disappears in the early days of COVID lockdowns and the group of online sleuths who try to find her.

[Sloan Glass]

I didn't want to be talked out of this plan. After I post this, I am turning off my phone for exactly this reason.

[Melissa Jeltson]

I kept just kind of asking everybody.

[Sloan Glass]

Anyone else think this is strange?

[Melissa Jeltson]

You'll notice that about me.

[Ron McGee]

I don't lurk. I'm out there.

[Melissa Jeltson]

I'm an action kind of girl. You can now get access to episodes of what happened to Talina Zar? 100% ad free with an iHeart True Crime plus subscription. I'm a subscriber, and you should be too, so don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search I Heart True Crime plus and subscribe today.

[Holly Fry]

Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tremarchi, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the Highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrers. Known as the wicked lady who terrorized England in the mid-1600s, her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Walt Monaghan]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.